


New Year's Day

by theworldunseen



Series: We could leave the Christmas lights up 'til January [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, New Year's Eve, New Year's Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 02:09:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20899907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theworldunseen/pseuds/theworldunseen
Summary: Jaime is back in Winterfell and it's time for him and Brienne to start some new traditions.





	New Year's Day

**Author's Note:**

> here's a sequel to Christmas Lights for jb week day 5, winter. read that fic first! it's short! you might like it! 
> 
> this fic was inspired by both Taylor Swift's "Lover" and Taylor Swift's "New Year's Day."

Brienne woke up because she had to pee. But she didn’t want to get out of bed — Jaime had his arm around her waist, his chin nestled in her shoulder. They’d kicked off her quilt during the night, leaving just a sheet over them.

She squeezed his fingers before moving his arm off of her. After she climbed out of bed — and they really should’ve landed in his bed, which was bigger and had much more expensive sheets — she stopped a second to watch him. His hair went every which way, some of it standing straight in the air. His stubble looked golden in the early morning sunlight streaming through the window. He was perfect. He was hers.

Quietly, she hurried to the bathroom. If she were quick, she could make it back before he woke up. While she was there, she washed her face and brushed her teeth.

But she wasn’t fast enough. When she got back to the bedroom, Jaime was sitting up, rubbing his eyes. He smiled when he saw her.

“I was worried for a second you were running away.” She rolled her eyes and leaned against the doorway.

“Just using the bathroom.” He swept his eyes up her legs and she realized she was still wearing the tiny shorts from the day before. Reflexively, she pulled the edge of her tank top down.

“Merry Christmas,” he said, patting the space next to him. “Come back.” He somehow made it sound both pathetic and dirty at the same time. She couldn’t refuse. She climbed back in and he threw his arm around her shoulders.

“You have to say it back,” he said, rubbing her neck with the stubble on his jaw.

“Say what back?” she repeated dreamily.

“Merry Christmas!” He pulled his face away. She used her hand to bring it back.

“Merry Christmas,” she whispered before kissing him. He was warm and mushy in her arms and she pulled him closer without thinking, until he was on top of her.

"Minty," he said before kissing her again. She laughed.

“We should’ve slept in your bed,” she said, as she planted kisses on his cheekbone. She felt, distantly, that something about making out with her best friend should be bothering her, but it wasn’t. It felt exactly right.

“Why?” he asked, his fingers making his way under her shirt, his stump gripping her waist.

“‘S bigger. More room.” God, she was obsessed with his stubble. Could she get him to grow a beard again?

“I don’t want more room,” he said. “I want you right here.” His fingers found her nipple and she moaned.

“You’ve got me,” she said, wrapping her leg around his hip. 

It was not a very productive morning.

They were eating French toast around midday when Sansa called.

“Merry Christmas!” Sansa almost yelled in her ear.

“Merry Christmas,” Brienne repeated.

“You sound almost cheerful, what’s going on?” Brienne rolled her eyes.

“I don’t hate Christmas that much —“

“Who are you talking to?” Jaime interrupted. Sansa gasped.

“Is that Jaime?! Jaime’s there?! Brienne —“

“Yes, Sansa,” she said, shooting Jaime a look. “Jaime flew in last night.”

“Oh my god oh my god,” Sansa said. “Why? Is he staying? What are you guys doing? Oh my god.” Brienne hoped Jaime couldn’t hear, but from the little quirk of his smile she thought he most definitely could.

“Sansa, could we talk about this later?”

“Of course, of course. Well, really I was calling because my mom made way too many pies so I was going to drop one off to you,” Sansa said. “But now that I know you’re feeling merrier —“

“I’m not feeling merrier —“

“Yes she is!” Jaime interjected.

“You two should come for dinner. It’ll be fun,” Sansa said. Brienne was glad she couldn’t see her roll her eyes.

“We couldn’t impose on you like that,” she said. Jaime looked like that was exactly what he wanted to do.

“Please, Robb brought Dacey and Theon and Arya showed up with like three friends. I think one of them is her boyfriend, you could help me figure it out,” Sansa said. “Please. It’ll be so much fun.”

“Let me ask Jaime,” she said. She muted the call. “Sansa invited us to the Starks’ for dinner. Do you want to go?”

She expected him to pressure her to go. But instead he shrugged.

“What you want to do is good for me,” he said as he continued eating his French toast.

“Really?” she asked. “It’ll be one of those big family Christmases like you always see in movies. I thought you’d be chomping at the bit.”

He reached his hand out for hers. She gave it to him.

“I already got everything I wanted this Christmas. Everything else is bonus. I just want to be where you are.” He bit his lip. “Was that too cheesy?”

“A little,” she said, but she had to blink a few times to get a tear out of her eye. She unmuted Sansa.

“Is this an ugly sweater kind of Christmas? I’m sure Jaime is just aching to wear one.”

It was and he was. He dug up a navy sweater covered in silver snowflakes for Brienne to wear.

“I love you in blue,” he said when he handed it to her. “Now I can say that all the time.”

“You said that before. All the time,” Brienne said as she pulled it on.

“Right, but now you'll actually believe me.” God, she wasn’t used to him being so _ sweet _ all the time. Was he always like this and she hadn’t noticed? Had she just assumed he was joking?

Arya was the one who sparked it during dinner. The whole group of them — Ned, Cat, Robb, Theon, Jon, Sansa, Arya and her three mysterious friends, Bran, Rickon, Dacey, Brienne and Jaime — were gathered around the Starks’ enormous dining room table, passing around Catelyn’s many pies. Everyone but Rickon was at least pleasantly buzzed, and even he had managed to sneak a glass or two of wine.

“Mom, you should have a New Year’s party, too,” Arya said, as she batted Gendry’s hand away from her piece of sweet potato pie. Sansa shot Brienne a look — that was the one Sansa thought her sister was dating. Better than the one called Lommy, at least.

“Absolutely not,” Catelyn said. “So you all and your friends can wreck the house all night long?”

“Bad enough we have to have Theon here for Christmas,” Ned said and everyone laughed. “Make Sansa have a party.”

“My apartment’s too small,” she said. “And you don’t pay me well enough to buy all the alcohol these idiots would drink.”

“We could do it,” Jaime said, and everyone turned to look at him. Brienne’s heart did a little pitter-patter at the word “we.” Everyone had guessed what was going on when they came in holding hands, but this still felt different. A declaration. He put his hand on her thigh. “Our place is big enough. And I'd happily spend Tywin Lannister’s money on champagne.”

—

Jaime, of course, went overboard. He invited basically everyone they had ever met and ordered more champagne than Brienne had ever seen in her life. He bought more Christmas lights, too — on sale, since it was after the holiday — and enlisted her to cover every surface in the apartment with them.

“Since you did such a good job last time,” he teased when he gave her the task. 

He bought glitter and streamers and hired an actual _ caterer. _

“Most people just buy little quiches and heat them up in the oven,” Brienne said, when Jaime had told her. She’d tried to sound disapproving — and failed. The menu sounded good.

“I don’t know,” he said, “It’s someone Tyrion knows who just started a business. Think of it as supporting the community.”

Just before people started to arrive on New Year's Ever, she slipped away from Jaime to get changed. He’d told people to wear whatever they wanted, but she wanted to wear something that was just a little special. Tonight _was_ special. She’d felt a bit silly when she’d asked Sansa two days earlier if she would go shopping with her to find an appropriate outfit, but Sansa was _ overjoyed _ at the chance.

After an hour of negotiation, they settled on a long sleeve, velvet romper in navy. Its v-neck was much lower than Brienne was used to and the shorts felt _ so short _ on her long legs, but Sansa swore up and down that it wasn’t too much. The doorbell rang after she was dressed, as she was brushing her hair again.

As Brienne walked back into the living room, she found Robb, Dacey, Arya and Theon already opening the champagne. Sansa was chatting with Jaime as Jon and Bran tried to find somewhere to put the cake they'd brought. Brienne slid next to Sansa to give her a hug, but before she could Jaime grabbed her hand and pulled her close for a lingering kiss. 

“God Tarth,” he mumbled as he let her go. His hand ran up and down her thigh. “Wear this every day for the rest of your life?” Brienne blushed. She was getting used to Jaime in private, but it still felt strange with other people around, to bask in the endless light of his love. Thankfully, the doorbell rang and Jaime’s friend Addam joined them.

“Thank God he finally told you,” Addam said as he hugged Brienne hello. “I was so tired of hearing about how blue your eyes are.” Brienne could not have been more shocked.

“You told Addam?”

“That I was in love with you?” Jaime asked, laughing. “Of course. Didn’t you tell Sansa?”

“No!” Sansa chimed in. “It was terrible, she wouldn’t admit anything. I just had to sit here and watch her look forlornly at the stupid tree and pretend I didn’t know.”

“Stop making fun of my Christmas tree!” Brienne said, pouting despite herself. Jaime kissed her cheek. 

“It’s a very noble tree,” he said. She knew he was lying, but she appreciated it nonetheless.

Soon, the apartment filled. Brienne’s friend Renly brought his boyfriend Loras who brought his sister Margaery who hit it off with Sansa _ immediately. _ Hot Pie and Lommy and Gendry arrived definitely stoned and ate half the pigs in a blanket. Addam and Robb had some complicated dance off that only Arya was allowed to judge. Theon spilled champagne everywhere and Dacey kept challenging people to arm wrestle. 

Even Tyrion showed up, all the way from King’s Landing, with his enormous friend Bronn and his tiny girlfriend Tysha. 

“Why are you here?!” Jaime yelled, more than half drunk. 

“I had to meet the love of your life!”

Brienne thought of how the apartment had been when she first moved in, all empty space and tasteful pillows. Tonight, with all these messy people she loved so much, it felt alive. It felt perfect. 

At 11:59 p.m. they screamed the countdown to the New Year and when the clock struck midnight Brienne found herself in Jaime’s arms. As New Year's Day unfolded she’d learn about Sansa making out with Margaery in a corner and Addam and Dacey locking themselves in the bathroom and Arya tripping Gendry when he tried to kiss her. Just then, she was focused on her best friend, the love of her life, kissing her brains out as a Taylor Swift song played in the background. Her first New Year's kiss. It was worth the wait.

Nobody wanted to go home.

“Just let them sleep here,” Jaime suggested at 3 a.m. when the champagne had finally run dry. 

“We can do that?” Brienne asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. 

“This is our place,” he said. “We make the rules.” They raided the linen closet and passed out blankets and pillows before locking themselves in Jaime’s room. Whatever happened outside was a problem for the next day (and there were quite a few problems. Jaime vowed to never purchase glitter again). 

They hadn’t planned on repeating it until Margaery mentioned it at brunch the next November. 

“We should go shopping for dresses for your New Year’s party,” she said to Brienne.

“Am I having a party?” Brienne asked. 

“Isn’t it a tradition?” Margaery asked. “Seemed like the sort of thing that happened every year.”

"You have to!" Sansa said. "It's our anniversary. Where else would we celebrate?"

Year two saw some improvements. Jaime added some non-champagne drinks to the menu. Arya convinced them to hire Lommy as a DJ. They bought some air mattresses so no one would have to sleep on the floor.

By year three, the guest list had exploded. Jaime had to pay a cleaning crew on January 2 to get the apartment back into livable shape. They vowed to scale back next time. They broke that vow in year four

That year everyone was sent paper invitations with a strict dress code — sparkly cocktail. If anyone asked Brienne what it meant, she directed them to Jaime. It took four phone calls for her to convince her father to make the trek North. It took six for Jaime to get Cersei to let Tommen and Myrcella come. He had to swear in a dozen different ways that he wouldn’t let them drink a single drop. 

Sansa was the first to figure out what was going on, but Margaery didn’t believe her. Even when the apartment was filled with flowers. Even when Ned and Cat showed up to the party for the first time ever. Even when Brienne was wearing a white sequin jumpsuit with a _ cape. _

15 minutes before midnight, Catelyn stood in front of the windows and tapped a glass until everyone quieted down. 

“It’s my honor to tell you that Brienne and Jaime have slightly misled you this evening. Or should I say, the bride and groom.”

“Holy shi—” Arya said just as the music started to play. Their friends parted as they made the happy couple made their way through the small crowd. Selwyn was crying, and Sansa and Myrcella and Tommen and Tyrion and Dacey and — well, everyone. 

They said their vows in the place they fell in love, in front of the people they loved. At the stroke of midnight, they sealed it with a kiss. 

They danced until 4 a.m., when everyone seemed to pass out where they stood. Jaime, ignoring Brienne’s protests, insisted on carrying her to bed. 

She pressed kisses into his back as they laid in bed. 

“You’re mine,” she said between each one. “Mine mine mine mine mine.”

And he was.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! lmk what you thought in the comments!


End file.
